Mark Hughes has been confirmed as the new manager of Queens Park Rangers on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

The Welshman was made the favourite to take the job at Loftus Road after the sacking of Neil Warnock on Sunday.

"I'm fully aware of the challenge in the short and long term
and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the owners," Hughes
said.


HUGHES' START AS QPR BOSS


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• 15 January v Newcastle (a)
  
• 17 January v MK Dons (FA Cup third round replay, (h)
  
• 21 January v Wigan (h)
  
• 1 February v Aston Villa (a)
  
• 4 February v Wolves (h)
  
• 11 February v Blackburn (a)
  

"The immediate priority is to consolidate our place in the Premier League. The future is very bright."

The 48-year-old, who will lead first-team training later on Tuesday, added that the role filled him with "great enthusiasm".

Hughes, who has has previously managed Wales, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City, left Fulham in June citing his desire "to further my experiences" as "a young, ambitious manager".

QPR lie 17th in the Premier League and have gone eight league games without a win, last picking up three points with a 3-2 win at Stoke on 19 November.

Club chairman Tony Fernandes, who completed his takeover in August, believes Hughes' desire to prove himself makes him the ideal appointment.

"Mark has a proven track record in the Premier League, bringing
a wealth of experience at both club and international level," he said.

"He has a great passion to achieve as a manager and has already been hugely successful in his career.

"His ambitions match those of the board and we are delighted to have him at the helm."

QPR were promoted back to the top flight last season under Warnock and made an encouraging start to the season.

They were ninth after the victory at Stoke but have failed to
win since then and have slid to within one point of the relegation
zone.


MARK HUGHES' CAREER

• Playing career takes in spells at Manchester United (twice),
  Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Everton, Blackburn, Southampton and
  Wales
  
• Scores 163 goals in 606 club appearances. Wins 72 caps for Wales, scoring 16 times
  
• Appointed part-time Wales manager in 1999
  
• Becomes Blackburn manager in 2004
  
• Appointed manager of Manchester City in 2008
  
• Sacked by Manchester City in December 2009
  
• Appointed Fulham boss in July 2010, leads them to eighth in Premier League
  
• Announces resignation from Fulham in June 2011
  
• Appointed QPR boss in January 2012
  

They also needed a last-minute equaliser from Heidar Helguson to avoid an FA Cup third-round defeat by League One side MK Dons on Saturday.

Hughes' first managerial role was with Wales, taking them to within one game of qualifying for Euro 2004.

The former Manchester United and Barcelona striker
subsequently took over at Blackburn and, after avoiding relegation in
his first season, managed three successive top-10 finishes, attracting
the attention of Manchester City in June 2008.

After the Abu Dhabi Group's takeover of the club three months later, Hughes oversaw a spending spree that included the recruitment of Brazilian playmaker Robinho for £32.4m, a British record at the time.

The likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott and Carlos
Tevez followed, but Hughes' results failed to match the owners'
expectations and he was fired in December 2009 with City sixth in the
Premier League.

not really a fan of mark hughes i give him a year and he wont be there

Hell of a player hell of an example of how not to manage. Poor manager, wouldn't even have him at Crawley, he just doesn't have the tactical head for me, QPR were better with Warnock tbh, I can honestly see them dropping this year and then losing players such as SWP & Taarabt and struggling from there on in again to get to the top flight again.

When he left Fulham, I expected his next job to be a step up! can't say I see this as that, but presumably they've sold him on their being plenty of money to throw about. Trouble is, he'll need to buy well this month.

Who is going to move to QPR in January, when they could do down by May?

the deeb wrote:

When he left Fulham, I expected his next job to be a step up! can't say I see this as that, but presumably they've sold him on their being plenty of money to throw about. Trouble is, he'll need to buy well this month.

Who is going to move to QPR in January, when they could do down by May?

As a Rangers fan I have to say that the potential there is so much better than at Fulham and I believe that some big name players will arrive this month and that they will stay up.

I expect Norwich and Swansea to crash and burn as the season drags on as they don't have the depth in their squads to compete with injuries that they will pick up.

With the demise of Blackburn, the yawn factor of Wigan and Blackburn, the inability of Mick Mcarthy to be consistent at Wolves and the excruciation of watching Everton I can really see QPR finishing mid-table at the end of the season.

They have a good squad, they just need some more spirit in the side, Joey Barton is actually very good for the team on the field, just not off it

Interesting fact is that 19 of their 25 man squad are HG so they have plenty of room to "drop" some of them and bring in some foreign players without jeopardizing their league registration status.

If Macheda proves to be as good for them as he is on FM they will be just fine

Having thought about it, I reckon Hughes could be just the type of manager Barton needs.